


By Candle Light

by Nativestar



Series: Advent Calendar [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27879026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nativestar/pseuds/Nativestar
Summary: Mac and Jack take shelter in a cabin while waiting for ex-fil.
Series: Advent Calendar [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2035885
Comments: 14
Kudos: 35





	By Candle Light

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Whump Advent Calendar (4th – 6th December): Candles

The hunting cabin was the proverbial oasis in the middle of a very cold, very stormy, dark winter forest. And for the two fleeing agents, it couldn’t have appeared at a better time. Currently, the only thing keeping Mac upright was Jack and even Jack was starting to stumble in exhaustion.

The inside of the cabin was small and compact, minimal furniture arranged in an open plan layout. Jack sat Mac down on the edge of a bed and went to see what supplies he could find. The cupboards were bare for food and nothing came out of the taps when he tried them. The generator refused to kick in but he managed to find a box of candles and matches and he brought them over to the bed. Mac had let himself tip over, head on the pillow but leaving his feet still on the floor. Jack would have been worried he’d passed out except he could see Mac lazily blinking at him in the glow of the flashlight.

“No electricity, but I found candles.” Jack said, as he lit two, placing them on the bedside unit.

In the flickering light Mac looked even worse, giving him a ghostly pallor. The only colours on his face from the bruises on his jaw and cheekbone, highlighted by the warm flame.

“You look like shit.” Jack told him flatly.

“You don’t exactly look pretty yourself.” Mac shot back, putting a hint of a smile on both of their faces. Jack took Mac’s feet and deposited them onto the bed for him, before reaching for the zip of his jacket. Mac had taken some pretty serious hits, and those were just the ones that Jack had seen, he knew there was damage hidden under his clothes, he just wasn’t sure how bad it was.

“Lets peel some of these layers off, check you out properly.”

“Why?” Mac asked, grabbing Jack’s hand with his own, stopping him.

“What do you mean why?”

“It’s not going to help, even if I am bleeding internally, there’s nothing you can do about it out here. I’m just gonna get cold and you’re just going to worry.” Mac said, his eyes exhausted and resigned.

Jack sighed, dropping his hands. Mac had a point, and hopefully, ex-fil would find them before it became an issue but he had to prepare in case they didn’t. He had to ask, even if he wouldn’t like the answer.

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Bleeding inside?”

Jack heard the answer in Mac’s silence and the way his eyes slipped away from Jack’s. “I’ll be okay,” Mac said instead. “Just give me a couple of hours to rest, let the storm pass and we can carry on hiking to higher ground, see if we can get that radio signal.”

“They’ll be searching for us already.” Jack chimed in with his own positivity, “Who knows, they might have found us by then anyway.”

“Hope so,” Mac whispered.

Jack rummaged around in a closet and found a couple of musty smelling blankets, he shook them out and then covered Mac. Lying down on the other side of the bed, he pulled the blankets over himself as well and shifted closer, curling up against Mac and adding his own body heat to Mac’s cocoon. He didn’t want to rest his arm across Mac’s midriff so instead laid his arm over Mac’s, his fingers finding Mac’s wrist and holding on, feeling the thrum of Mac’s pulse under his fingertips. Faster than it should be, but still relatively steady and strong.

“I’ll be okay.” Mac whispered, on the verge of sleep.

“I know you will.” Jack answered. “There’s no other option, you got that?”

“Got it.”

Jack had no intention of sleeping himself, afraid he’d sleep too long and through any alarm he’d set. Instead he laid there, keeping watch and counting heartbeats, only stopping when he heard the faint but familiar sound of a Phoenix ex-fil chopper.


End file.
